Our Year of Wonder: Danshui

My cousin and her family live just north of Taipei in the Danshui District (also spelled Tamsui). Given our unplanned and extended stay there, we spent a lot of time in Danshui. There was school work and laundry to do, redoing of travel plans, walks around town, trying new foods, doing dinners together, and hanging out with cousins. In other words, it was in one sense a week of normal life but in the other sense filled with new experiences. We felt renewed and recharged after our time there.

Danshui Market

We had made a few trips into the downtown area of Danshui throughout the week and felt like we got to really experience life there simply by walking the streets. It was pretty crazy on Chinese New Years Day!

Part of the market was along the river front which provided a bit more space and scenic views.

On the river front was a memorial to Dr. Rev. George Mackay who was a British Canadian missionary who arrived at that spot in 1872. He dedicated his life to this area and started the church pictured on the right as well as started a hospital and university.

Of course a walk through the streets with bubble tea is always a plus! At times it got so busy we resorted to making a train to stay together.

Almost an overwhelming amount of things to look at and experience.

On one of the busiest nights we borrowed two extra motos so we had four motos (and two bikes) to head into town vs trying to find parking with cars. It was the girls first experience riding a moto and based upon the smiles, it was another positive experience.

Food!

Of course we continued to be introduced to so many foods, too many to explain in detail but here are some highlights.

More street foods – pictured are different pastries and custards.

Trying whistle candy!

Tea eggs – eggs left to soak and be saturated with tea.

Taiwanese desserts: one pot of rice balls with either black sesame or peanuts inside with a broth of ginger and brown sugar and a second pot of sweet red bean soup – beans, gelatinous sweet potato, taro and rice balls. We also got to drink lots of Milo which is a chocolate mix with malt.

They also took us out for hotpot which is kind of like the Chinese version of fondue. The kids got the family table with one big pot to share while the parents each got their own pot.

My turn for a food play by play (like Julia’s coffee drinking in Costa Rica) as my cousin convinced me to try the blood rice. I did try it; not my favourite but it wasn’t as strong as I thought and mostly tasted like rice. Almost everything else was delicious.

Julia’s YA friend had tried to take us to a beef noodle shop in downtown Taipei but it was closed for the New Year holiday. Since we didn’t get to try it then, our cousins brought us to the place they knew of in Danshui. It is one of those places we would have never chosen ourselves because it looked pretty shabby outside and only had plywood on the inside. Local guides make all the difference because in spite of its looks, it did beef noodles really well!

Schooling

With the extra time and change of plans, we needed to have a few days without set activities to allow for some school work to be done.

Extra tables came out to make room for everyone. With breaks for Milo and baked chickpea snacks, everyone seemed to find their study groove. It helped that some of the days were a bit rainy so staying inside wasn’t a huge complaint.

My cousin created an inductive Bible study program to train missionaries so for two mornings, she taught Bible class for the girls.

Church

It was also a blessing to visit their church for two weeks. Even though the services were in Mandarin, we got some whispered translations from cousins the first week since the in-ear interpretation wasn’t available and the in-ear the second week. No matter the language, it is uplifting to hear the congregation sing praises to God.

A unique architectural church in that it was built high-rise style like a lot of buildings in the area. The auditorium spanned two floors and there were floors for fellowship, Sunday school, offices, etc. From above there were skylights in the shape of a cross.

Just Hanging Out

Of course, between excursions, studying and running into town, there was plenty of time to just relax and hang out as family.

Lots of games!

Reading paper books was a treasure as well as working on puzzles as a family. They actually finished two puzzles and got half-way through a third one before we had to leave.

Trying out new hairstyles.

There was also time for new experiences, like bubble tea war! Everyone donned some old clothes and took a container of bubble tea bubbles and a straw to shoot the bubbles at each other. They broke off into teams and some came back with some bubbles stuck to their clothing and/or hair!

Neighbourhood Walks

In addition to walking around town and to church we also took a nice walk to the beach.

The river we were walking along had stepping stones as a bridge. The kids played a memory game where one person choose a path across. The rest had to guess the pattern and if they stepped on the wrong rock they had to go back to the start and let the next person to try. First across won. We also saw a beautiful Eurasian Kingfisher along the way, dressed in my family’s favourite colours.

The activity for the hour at the beach was for each kid to make their own maze in the sand. Once everyone was done, they would take turns racing through each others mazes to see who would win.

Final Days

As the time came for us to leave, it felt like everyone, but the kids especially, were trying to enjoy every moment they had together. There was one last braiding session that some how overflowed to include everyone, one last celebratory run of bubble tea when the visas for Vietnam finally came through, and a kids only walk to the sea wall.